Jeff was offered a job in Chicago. I am so happy for him...he really deserves this. I hope it ends up being everything he wanted and hoped for. As for me....I will be following him there shortly. I suppose I should rewind a few steps.

It's the week of my annual conference and my brain is barely functioning. I am at this point so completely maxed out that there isn't a lot of room to really think about anything else. I feel bad that I can't focus more on Jeff and his success and what needs to take place, but I tell him that I am all consumed right now by the conference and there isn't much more I can give right now.

I think he....well, I know he doesn't understand. He thinks it'll all work out, which it somehow always does, but I had SO much to do and really not enough time to do it, and at some point would have to say "enough" and I still wouldn't be done. I had been working Saturday & Sunday for the past two months and not taking lunch hours, etc. so it's not like i've been slacking. There really just is too much for one person (or any of the people in our small office) to keep up.

Plus, I was leading up to the final moment of so much hardwork. I wasn't going to let all this extra stress and onsite problems happen just because I didn't feel like working late. Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do. It was Tuesday (2/22) and I was at work until 11pm. That's when you know it's bad. I still had more to do but I had been at work since 8 in the morning and I was exhausted. Because I had to sit in on pre-con meetings all of wednesday it was my last day in the office and I was trying to do as much as I could before I packed everything up to go.

What's terrible is I still had so much to do at home. I had to get my luggage prepared and iron all my shirts. I was also revved up even though I was also extremely tired so I had a hard time sleeping. I was up again very early before heading down to the convention center for an early meeting start. Spent the rest of the day in meetings and trying to cram any last minute details that still needed to be taken care of.

The next four days were very long and hard. I was running constantly (pedometer read on average 14K steps/day) and that is up and down stairs, bending, lifting and so on. I actually slept on my back with my legs propped up on my suitcase to help prevent swelling. By the time Saturday night rolls around your whole body just aches and there is still all of Sunday to manage through.

Jeff calls me while at the conference---he's in chicago and looking at apartments. To be honest, I just don't have the brain cells to actively think any more at this point. He's telling me about our options and basically tells me that at my budget we can't afford to live in Chicago. It's a pretty upsetting talk because I am soooo tired...barely in my room, already midnight and now I'm getting a panicked phone call about how my budget just isn't cutting it?

I mean, a budget is a budget. I know my lifestyle will have to change in a big city but it's still disappointing. And it's not even like I'm out buying all this stuff....the things I will have to cut back on are the amount I pay off my student loan, the amount I pay into retirement, the amount I pay into my car insurance so I can have a few months break before the annual starts back up again.

My retirement account is very important to me. It's so hard to do and think about at my age...perhaps at any age, because it's so far away. But I want to feel secure, I want to feel good about my retirement and I feel really good about starting so early. The last conversation I had with friends about retirment was, "I've saved $50; I've saved $300; I've saved $0" ----well, I've saved over 3000 last year.

Ahhh. Security. Jeff keeps telling me that I'll need to cut back, see if I start making more and so on and it's like...

You have to pay yourself first. It sucks, it hurts, but you have to do it. If that means sacrificing in other areas...I think that's what you should do. (BTW...he's the one that said zero ;)

Well, that's not completely true. He said he was going to take 10% of his savings and put it towards retirement once we've moved....and he has been very good at saving money even though he wasn't making very much money at all with his other job.

BUT, really, after you start reading financial books....you're both scared and excited. Scared of what it really looks like to not have anything and excited about being one of those few that actually DOES have something saved!

My grandmother....she has nothing. She has her social security and that's it. If she didn't have so many supportive children to help finance her she would be living in poverty. What a terrible place to be in. My parents....they have very little saved as well. What was saved went towards college for four kids.

I want to have money that's just for me. It's not being selfish, it's being smart. It is important to me. I don't like debt; it gnaws away at me. I paid off my car loan two years early. I kind of work in a frenzy until the debt is simply gone. And while I understand my student loans will be here for a long while, it still drives me crazy. I don't want to just have to make minium payments...but that's what I'm going to have to do. I also like to have at least a few months break in between paying off my car insurance...but I'm going to have to pay min. monthly on that too.

As for the retirement....i'll probably have to cut back on that as well. My budget is already looking really meager and that's not even knowing how much food and other things will cost.

I'm very strict with my money and I don't want to be all anal, but I don't want to fall into money traps as I've seen siblings and others get into. It's just such an awful feeling. And I also feel bad.....I mean, I have a hard enough time now getting myself out to bars and clubs....what's it going to be like when MONEY is the excuse (er, and not just that I'm tired).

Bleh, well, I don't want to be all negative before I even get there. I really am excited about going and plan on enjoying myself and going out, even just to get to know/meet people and learn more about the neighborhood and the city.

So, I took Thur-Fri off last week and Jeff and I began driving Wednesday after I got off work. It's not a terrible drive (6 hours) but definitly long enough you wouldn't want to do every weekend. We get there around midnight and crash at an old friend of jeff's. It's a buddy from his HS crew. He's very nice and we've met back when he was in Columbus. Go to sleep shortly before morning comes.

We spend most of the day going around and looking at apartments. It's hard because the realtor kept asking me, "what do you think" or "what do you want." And it's like....I have no idea. I really have never looked for apartments. I mean I had a couple of places while in school but they kind of just fell into my lap. I wanted something I could afford mainly.

The first handful of places we looked at were small and run down--so what exactly do you want me to say? Hey, I don't want to pay a lot, but could you get me a really nice, new, big place near the city's action in a safe neighborhood? I had no idea on what our budget could even get us so no, I didn't have an opinion.

And this is probably just one of my weird things but...I really could care less where we were. Honestly. I could have signed a lease at any of those crappy places...it just doesn't, I mean sure I can dream big and say what I like, but if it works...that works.

Part of it is just not knowing...anything to make an informed decision. I don't know the neighborhood, I don't know where good places are to shop or eat or go out. I don't know what is close to transportation or even what I would use the transportation to get to. I didn't have a job so I had nothing location wise to have any idea on what would be easiest. Don't know, don't care.

Preferences? Sure. But again....just no clue on if our budget could get us anything, so why worry about it. Jeff had me all freaked out we'd be living a hole in the ghetto so after that in mind, any place we looked at sounded okay. We ultimately end up in this cute little place in Lincoln Park. According to Jeff and everyone we told we were in the "best" place. We're within walking distance of a bunch of boutique shops and all the "hot" bars that everyone goes to. So, if this is all true...yea us. :-)

The apartment is small but "affordable." Haha, my dad said his mortgage is the same as my rent and we have a nice family house with five bedrooms if that gives you any idea.

But, this place was actually the cheapest out of everything we saw. Plus, supposedly parking won't be a problem in our neighborhood so no additional costs for buying a parking spot or using a garage. The place also looks a lot newer than some of the others. The kitchen looks completely re-done and new windows were being put in the day we looked at it. Plus, a huge biggie is we have washer/dryer. There was only ONE other apartment that we saw that also had W/D and it was in the apartment building (not room) and it was coin operated.

So to have a W/D in-house without cost is so wonderful. That is such a huge convenience and I'm glad that's one last thing to have to worry about doing. So we signed a lease then drove home. Jeff had visions of turning around the next day with a Uhaul and coming back but I didn't think he'd realy do it.

Oh....wait!

So, Jeff is buddies with this girl who lives in chicago that happens to work for an Event Management company--and they're hiring! I learn about this also the week of my conference but do not have any time to re-vamp the resume to get anything over to the company. That also makes for a stressful Monday the day after the conference b/c Jeff wants to re-design my resume (yes, I have an in-house graphic designer ;) and I need to do a complete overhaul to include all my new experience.

So we basically spend all of Monday (I have the day off) working on the resume and cover letter and finally get it to this company. I'm a little concerned on how they can reach me because....well, if they try to call me, it's my home phone and I will be at work. They can email me, but I also don't have tons of time to always be checking my personal email.

It's Wednesday evening and Jeff and I are about to get in his car when the company actually calls Jeff's cell phone! Apparently the girl (Amy) calls him to see if they can talk to me (real professional, right? ;)

So I kind of do an impropmtu (sp?) phone greet/interview on the spot. The chat is casual and easygoing and we schedule for a Friday morning interview. So on Friday Jeff is kind and drives out to this place while I cram for my interview. I'm a little more experienced (both with working in a professional setting and my general knowledge of the meeting industry) than my first interview, but I still want to come prepared. It takes about an hour to get to the job (talk about a commute!)

I usually get post-nerves after things like this, so I go in okay. I'm glad I arrive early because the woman I'm interviewing with gives me an employment application which takes me forever to fill out. The form asks for references and I'm not sure who to list (thank goodness I brought with me my complete job history with contact information since this application asked for all of that info!)

I have my old references but they aren't great simply because they don't know me the way the people I work with know me. I know my current employer would probably give me a great reference....but I can't exactly list them when I haven't told them I quitting yet! I list two old references and one committee member from work. He's this outrageous character and I know he'll give me a good reference....I just hope they don't call him that afternoon since I technically haven't asked him if I can list him or not...hell, he doesn't know I'm leaving either.

I'm wearing a long red coat over a skirted suit. It's strange....but the whole time I'm there, not one person offers to take my coat or points me to a place I could put it. So I'm lugging around this huge wool coat and it just seems odd to me. They didn't offer me anything to drink either. I know that seems small and petty, but...isn't that like the first thing you ask?

The woman is very cool that I interview with. Probably late thirties but she's relaxed and easy to talk with. She asks about my background and she throws in some interview Q's ("what is one word others would use to describe you"). Ha, mine is total BS, but what can you do ("umm, well, that would have to be moody"). Thankfully there are no situational questions ("Pretend there is a conflict between you and another coworker.....")

We wrap things up and we head back to the front door--again she doesn't ask me if I have any questions and the way it flows...there really isn't an opportunity for me to do so. That also seemed off, but whatever.

We are heading out and she tells me that she would really like me to meet the President since I won't be back in town for another two weeks. She pulls him out of a meeting (that's a good sign right?) and then we go stumble back to the boardroom (me lugging the damn, bulky red coat again) and we sit down.

This time, she's to my right and he's in the chair in front of me. There is NO WHERE for me to put my coat or my purse so I hold them awkwardly folded on my lap the whole time. I'm pretty sure this was noticable to me only but it still felt weird.

The President is...intense. I suppose all company starters probably all. He's a rapid, close talker and I really just want to say "woah, woah, calm down." He likes to hear himself talk so I let him. We talked for a good while and he DID ask me if I had any questions so I used that time to approach him about some things. He answered them well. :)

I liked to hear that he supports CE and will help finance things like MPI or or other industry associations and classes. One of the best questions I ever read about to ASK of your potential employer is about any doubts or concerns they may have in hiring you right now. This is a great way to allow them to share anything they be thinking but not saying AND you get the time to dispute or resolve any of the issues they may have.

His issues were as follows:

(1) Event planning is not the glamour job it is marketed as. People out of college don't realize that the hours are long and tough and yes it can be fun, but it's hard work. It's not party planning.

a.) My thoughts: you asshole. He came down very condescending as....i'm pretty sure he hadn't read my resume, saw how young I was and my over-eagerness and simply thought I was some "yeah, party planning!" just graduated bimbo. I wanted to jump out and shake him and tell him that I just worked a conference that had me working 14 hour shifts on my feet.

I know it's hard work, I know it's not simply something you can leave at "9 to 5" if something has to be done.

I think he was trying to show off or overemphasize the extent of the job by rattling off a five minute lecture on what event mangement involved. He even peppered it with "industry lingo."

Well, I calmly smiled, and told him that I had done everything he just listed...and then some and I was well aware of the hours and the challenges and that it was worth it because I loved the work.

Next issue?

(2) Commuting sucks. He said too many people come into the city and simply don't understand the commute. It sucks, it's hard and it's not fun. He knew I had just signed a lease in the city and while he was willing to take an investment in me, was I going to commit to him even when the commute got real old?

a.) His concern is perfectly valid. I explained that moving to a big city part of the package include the commute. It is worth it to be able to enjoy the city and if it is for a job I like.

3.) Do I really want to work for Company ABC or was this just a convenient job opening?

a.) Also a valid point. I was honest and told him that yes, it was 'fate' or luck that a job opening appeared as I found out I was moving to Chicago. BUT, even when Amy first got the job with the company it was something I wanted to do. And, although I ended up as an association meeting planner my job search had been focused on Event Management companies in large cities following graduation and that his company was exactly the kind of place I saw myself working at.

Did he believe me on any of the three points? Eh, I don't know. I was a little put off after his "this is hard work" lecture so I'm not sure how well I was reading him. I think that it did go well. I felt I could answer all of his questions and I felt leaving the interview that there was no reason to not hire me. :)

They are looking for someone who could still be considered entry level or junior, ready to jump into a meeting coordinator position that would be groomed to become a meeting manager. Isn't that me? So they gave me a "project" and off I went.

The project is/was a little rediculous. I essentially was asked to plan a corporate holiday function from beginning to end with little to go on. Not having any way to ask questions of the company since the following day was a weekend and it was due on Monday I was more than confused and overwhelmed with what I needed to present. How much detail did I need to give? What did half the things on the "assignement" really mean? Ahhhh.....

I pretty much spent all weekend on the stupid thing. By the time Sunday rolled around I was really sick of doing it. Too much work on something that doesn't guarantee me a job. Plus, as my dad pointed out, what if they used my ideas to actually plan a function of the same nature? Did I just spend 20 hours working for free?

So, we'll see on that.

Jeff ended up not leaving for chicago until today (Tuesday). It's weird to think that I really might not see him for the next two weeks.

Well, it's time to go to bed. Talk more soon.